Poultry, such as chicken, turkey, duck or goose, is a hugely popular food item throughout the world. It is often seen as a more healthful meat alternative over beef or pork. Whole fowl are typically prepared by baking in ovens. Sometimes whole poultry, such as chicken, may be cooked by direct contact with heated a heated pan or via contact with a heated fluid such as hot air contacting a bird disposed over a grill as it rotates over a rotisserie. There are also popular cooking alternatives for fowl, such as chicken, when the whole bird is separated into breast, wings, thighs, ribs and legs. These alternatives include pan frying or deep frying in lard, oil, shortening or the like, which are fluids maintained at cooking temperatures. Steam frying, such as simultaneously with vegetables, is also used as a healthful cooking option.
More recently, deep frying has become more popular for large, whole fowl such as whole turkeys. Deep fried, whole turkeys are treasured for their great flavor. Early, whole bird deep fryers were designed for outdoor use and fueled by natural gas or propane. These fryers could be extremely dangerous when used improperly. For example, oil spillover could feed oil directly into an open flame causing ignition and spread of flaming oil. Placing a frozen bird, rather than fully thawed, room temperature bird could exacerbate oil boil over.